


Carry on Wayward Son

by TinyButFierce



Series: The Word I'm Looking For [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, BAMF Tony Stark, Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Sneaky Steve Rogers, Sokovia Accords, Stan Lee Cameo, Tony Stark Has A Heart, the press
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-02 15:55:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14548215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyButFierce/pseuds/TinyButFierce
Summary: Five times the Avengers didn’t meet Tony’s kid and the one time they did.





	1. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I already wrote some Infinity War angst, I figured I should write something that ignores it completely.
> 
> I don't own anything. Title comes from Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas.

In a small room at the UN headquarters in New York a group of people sat on other sides of a long table. One spy, one supersoldier, one flyer, and one magic user sat across from a UN official, the operator of the War Machine armor, and one genius. 

 

The only person to speak for a long time was the UN official, outlining the terms for the former fugitives house arrest and responsibilities. The genius stared out the window at the river and the former fugitives took cursory glances at him. 

 

The UN worker continued to speak, “Your rooms at the compound have been prepared for you to return as long as you sign the accords and agree to the terms listed within the document. As you know, your two teammates, Clint Barton and Scott Lang, signed similar documents and are with their families at the present moment. As none of you have families to be under house arrest with, the compound will function as your location at this time.”

 

Steve spoke up, “We’d all be happy to go home. Isn’t that right Tony?”

 

The genius snorted and looked at the super soldier, “I wasn’t the one who took your home, you did that yourself.”

 

Steve continued, “It’s our home, you live there too!”

 

Rhodey stifled a laugh and Tony grinned, “Oh, I don’t live there. I’m nice and comfortable at Stark tower. We decided not to sell.”

 

Natasha narrowed her eyes, “If you’re not going to live with us, why are you and Rhodes here?”

 

“Oh, the UN forced me to be here. They wanted someone who could keep you under control.”

 

“And Rhodes?”

 

“He was bored and wanted some entertainment.”

 

The UN official cleared her throat, “If we could get back to the matter at hand.”

 

All of the others calmed down and went back to resolutely ignoring each other, preferring to scan their eyes over paper than create another argument. Tony and Rhodey spoke to each other quietly, too low to pick up. The others tapped their pens on the table and sighed, wishing that they didn’t have to read complicated legal documents. 

 

Steve pushed back his chair slowly and looked up at the four on the other side of the room. They all looked back. The supersoldier put down his pen, “It says here, that equipment will be provided by the UN and we have to arrange expenses for that ourselves.”

 

The official responded, “That would be correct, all of you will have a UN liaison to help with things such as equipment and other expenses.”

 

Wanda scoffed, “Expenses? Shouldn’t Stark being paying for this stuff?”

 

Tony laughed and the UN official continued, “Dr. Stark is under no contract to provide you with equipment or funds. The UN is your contact for such things, not Dr. Stark. You are not his responsibility.”

 

Steve stood up and placed both his hands on the table ready to start a verbal battle until suddenly, out of nowhere, a phone started to ring.

 

Carry on Wayward Son blasted out of Tony’s phone that was sitting on the table. Everyone turned to look at him as he picked up the phone and prepared to answer it. 

 

Steve interrupted, “I’m positive that nothing could be more important than what is happening right now.”

 

Rhodey chuckled, “I can guarantee you that the person on the other end of that line is more important.”

 

Tony grinned back at Rhodey and picked up the phone.

 

Everyone watched in silence as the genius smiled while listening to whomever was on the other side. 

 

“Hey kid. Yeah. No you’re not interrupting anything. Yeah? Alright. I can pick you up today. Do you have academic decathlon tonight? Okay. I can pick you up in thirty minutes if that would work for you. That works? Great. You want to work in the labs tonight? I got my hands on some things that I think you would like. Alright. See you soon.”

 

Tony put the phone in his pocket and stood up to leave. Steve glared at him and walked to the door, standing in front of it and stopping Tony from leaving. 

 

The genius paused in front of him and raised an eyebrow, “You might want to get out of the way Rogers, I need to get to Queens in a half an hour and New York traffic is busy this time of day.

 

The supersoldier continued to stand in front of the door, “You’re always late to everything. I don’t see why you can’t be late to wherever you’re going. Besides, who called you anyways?”

 

Tony narrowed his eyes and leveled his gaze at the super soldier.

 

“One: I would never purposely be late for the person I have to pick up soon. Two: His identity is none of your business.”

 

“I think it should be my business, you’re always up to something when you become secretive.”

 

“You always think the worst of things don’t you. Well listen to this. The person I have to go get means more to me than any of you. He means more to me than these peace talks right now. I would protect him no matter what happens and you will not stand in my way. I’m going to ask you one more time to get out of my way before I am forced to make you.”

 

“The UN would never let you do that.”

 

Tony turned to looked at the UN official who calmly watched the proceedings. She raised an eyebrow at him and leveled her gaze at the supersoldier, “You have not signed the Accords as of now and technically this interaction would count as a threat towards Dr. Starks being in a court of law.”

 

Tony grinned darkly at the supersoldier, “The UN is behind me and I’m sure that you wouldn’t want to go to jail now that you’re so close to being home.”

 

Rogers glared and stepped back from the door. Tony opened it but paused to look back at the room, “Ms. Jones, Rhodey, I’m sure you two can handle it from here.”

 

The two nodded at him and the genius walked out of the door. As it closed, the UN official turned back to look at the former fugitives with a smile.

 

“Shall we continue?”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it!
> 
> I am completely open to suggestions as to what the other chapters should be where the Avengers don't meet Peter. I already know what I'm doing for when they do:). 
> 
> Comments and kudos keep me writing!


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited about the response that this fic has gotten! Lots of thanks to everyone who read, gave me kudos, or commented! You all made this terrible week tolerable.
> 
> I'd like to thank the incredible and amazing RecklessDaydreamer for beta-ing this chapter! Her work is amazing and I would highly recommend reading it! :)
> 
> I'd like to thank steelmagnolia247 for the prompt for this chapter. I hope it's what you wanted!

Shattered metal spread out across the field. The sparking of electronics fizzled all around the group of heroes. Broken doom bots lay dead on the group. 

 

Iron Man walked through the destruction, making his way past the other Avengers towards the Quinjet that was waiting to take them all back to the compound for a debriefing. 

 

The helmet of the suit retracted when he reached the ship and he climbed on in silence. Steve sighed and followed the quiet genius. The others trailed after the soldier. 

 

Natasha went to the front of the ship and had the Quinjet take off from the battlefield. Sam and Wanda sat at the back of the ship, talking quietly, while Steve made his way up to Tony.

 

He stopped right next to the stoic genius and sighed, “Tony.”

 

Stark turned around and looked at the super soldier with a dazzling press smile. “Capsicle, what can I do for you?”

 

“We have to stop this.”

 

“We?”

 

“Oh come on Stark. Look. I’m sorry! Is that what you want to hear? I’m sorry! I did what I thought was right and you did the same. We can’t let this get in between us now.”

 

Tony dropped his smile and looked directly at the soldier. “Look, Cap. You left me in a frozen wasteland to die. I barely survived. I am trying my best to get along with you without throwing up whenever I see that horrendous beard.”

 

“My beard isn't that bad.”

 

“Uh huh. Keep telling yourself that.”

 

“This isn't the point of the conversation! Stop deflecting!”

 

“I don’t deflect.”

 

“Yes you do! Every time something happens to you, you lock yourself in your lab and drink! I’m trying to make up with you to prevent you from doing something you’ll regret.”

 

Tony laughed under his breath, “Lock myself in the lab and drink? I’ll admit it, I’ve done that in the past. This time though. This time I had… people to help me. So stop trying to apologize. I don’t think that you honestly believe it. I’m perfectly fine with having a working relationship, but I don’t think that we can ever go back to the way things were.”

 

“I’ll keep trying.”

 

“I know you will.” 

 

The two lapsed into silence as the Quinjet landed at the compound. Tony sauntered out and made his way to the conference room as the Iron Man suit retracted around him. 

 

Rhodey was waiting in the room with the UN liaison. 

 

Tony smiled at his best friend, “Rhodey! Nice commanding on the field there.”

 

Rhodes responded, “I may not be out there just yet, but that doesn’t mean I can’t order you around.”

 

The genius snarked back, “No one orders me around.”

 

“Two names immediately come to mind.”

 

“Shut up.”

 

“They both have you wrapped around their fingers.”

 

Natasha chimed in from where she had entered the room, “Two people? I thought only Pepper could make him do things.”

 

Tony glared at the spy. “I don’t see why this is something that needs to concern you, Romanov.”

 

The spy shrugged, “Alright.” But there was a slight glimmer in her eyes, whoever it was, she was going to find out eventually.

 

Everyone sat around the table in a configuration similar to their initial talks. Ms Jones, the UN liaison, spoke up. 

 

“I think we can all agree that this went extremely well. The results of this battle have increased the UN’s confidence that you will all be able to work together under the command of Colonel Rhodes. I hope that the rapidness in which the accords worked to deploy you has settled the concerns of Mr. Rogers and party.”

 

Tony snorted, “Heh, Mr. Rogers. Which neighborhood are you from again?”

 

Steve looked at Tony in confusion, “Brooklyn? I’ve told you this before.”

 

Tony just giggled until Rhodey elbowed him, the colonel smirking as well. 

 

Jones glared at the two. “I will leave the meeting up to the behest of Colonel Rhodes. He will address any concerns in the cooperation of this group in battle.”

 

Rhodes nodded and thanked the liaison, who quickly exited the room. The Colonel placed his hands on the table and looked around. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Tony’s phone started blaring Dear Theodosia at full volume.

 

Everyone turned to look as he lifted up his phone to see who was calling. Rhodey looked over his shoulder and laughed, “You changed his ringtone to that?”

 

Tony glared at the phone, “I didn’t change it. He must have hacked it, he’s trying to get me to take him to Hamilton.”

 

Steve looked at Tony, alarmed. “Is someone blackmailing you? If they can hack you we may all be in danger.”

 

Tony muttered under his breath, “He’s always blackmailing me,” and picked up the phone.

 

“Did you hack into my phone just to change my ringtone? No? Then how? … Oh. It was open on the counter. That’s disappointing. What? Don’t Mister Stark me! What’re you calling for anyways? Uh huh. Oh yeah, of course I can help with that. What subject?”

 

Everyone looked around in confusion at the change of topic. Rhodey just grinned at the expressions of the other avengers. 

 

“History? I’m not sure how much help I’ll be with that. What topic? The revolutionary war? Why would I be able to help with … oh, I see what you’re doing. Uh huh... Sure it’ll help you...I don’t like musicals. Don’t “technically it’s an opera” me.... So what, Carmen is good!”

 

Sam turned and mouthed the words, “Tony listens to Carmen?” to Natasha, who shrugged and continued to listen to the conversation. 

 

“All right, all right, fine, I’ll take you! Stop screaming it hurts my ears. Wait. Are there other people there? No. Absolutely not. I agreed to take you, not your entire posse. I don’t care if your girlfriend is scary and wants to go. Oh don’t protest that part, everyone can see how you stare at her all the time. Uh huh. You know what. Fine. But only the three of you. All right. You’re welcome. Yeah. See you later. Bye.”

 

Tony hung up and put the phone back in his pocket. Natasha raised an eyebrow. “I’m assuming that was the second person that you take orders from?”

 

“I don’t take orders from him. He annoys me until I give in.”

 

“Sounds like blackmail.”

 

“It’s not blackmail.”

 

“I think we should be told who this person is.”

 

“Absolutely not.”

 

Just as Natasha was about to respond, Steve interrupted, “If Tony and Rhodes don’t see a problem, I think we can trust them.”

 

Everyone stared at the captain until Rhodey shrugged, “I see no problem.”

 

“Then it’s all fine.”

 

The other Avengers all shot Steve confused glances, which he responded to with steely ones. Tony and Rhodey gave each other a glance that amounted to having a chat later. 

 

Rhodey cleared his throat, “In that case, I believe that we can begin this debrief.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Once again, lots of thanks to RecklessDaydreamer!
> 
> Comments and kudos keep me writing. :)


	3. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank Calia09, LunaThePeculiarTuna, and RecklessDaydreamer for their prompts.
> 
> Also, shout out to RecklessDaydreamer for all her help with comma management and making hilarious comments as she reviews the chapter before all of you get to see it. Her writing is amazing and you should all check it out!

The cameras lined up in front of the empty stage and the world watched in anticipation. Stark Industries had announced that they had big news to be delivered at a press conference that would be headed by Tony Stark himself.

 

Steve Rogers sat on a couch with Natasha, Wanda, and Sam, at the compound. Neither Tony nor Rhodey had told them anything about what was going to be announced so they were as much in the dark as the public was.

 

Clapping was heard as the man himself walked onto stage and smiled at the crowd and the viewers. 

 

He walked up to the podium and removed his signature sunglasses, sliding them into a pocket of his suit. Everyone quieted in anticipation -- the best announcements always happened when he thought it right to remove his glasses.

 

He smirked at the waiting crowd and began to speak.

 

“I’m sure you are all excited to hear what I am about to announce. This will be even better for you as I obviously have no cue cards. We all know what happens when I’m left to my own devices.”

 

Quiet chuckles echoed through the audience until Stark began to speak again.

 

“As many of you know, my father and I never got along. He preferred his job over his wife and child. I swore that I would never follow in his footsteps in that retrospect. After I shut down my father's legacy, the weapons business, most of the stockholders abandoned this company, only for it to begin to thrive again under the command of Pepper Potts. She deserves most of the credit, we all know that I never had any control anyways.”

 

A few laughs were heard. Steve turned towards Sam,

 

“You’d think that he would just get to the point already.”

 

“I think he’s doing a pretty good job, if this ends up being serious he might as well throw a few jokes in there.”

 

The supersoldier glanced at Sam but quickly looked away after noticing that Sam was trying to pay closer attention to the screen. Natasha watched the proceedings with interest.

 

Tony continued to speak.

 

“I have heard many comments recently about what would happen to the company if I was ever heavily injured or killed in my role as Iron Man. I have to admit, I’m not getting any younger. The success of SI is not just because of myself. Scores of brilliant scientists and lawyers and business persons work in the company. The contingencies that were enacted during my stay in Afghanistan would still go through pending the loss of my ability to work with the company. However, there has been an upticking of comments recently that doubt the companies ability to bounce back if I was ever unable to return again. I am here today to quell those rumors.”

 

Whispers echoed throughout the room.

 

“In the past year or so, I have been training a replacement for myself. I will not be naming him today because of security reasons. I want him to be able to make it through the full extent of his schooling before being subjected to the press so I ask that you do not search for him. While he is not mine biologically, he has levels of intellect that rival my own and compassion that I never had. There is no one better that I would name my heir. He has my entire confidence and I’m sure that he will earn yours.”

 

The room was silent for a few seconds until it finally burst into a chaotic stream of noise as every reporter yelled questions at the stand. 

 

Tony raised his hand. “One at a time people. All right, first up, you in the yellow shirt.”

 

“Dr. Stark, what information can you tell us about your heir?”

 

Tony smiled at the reporter. “He can talk for hours without stopping and thinks that the original Star Wars movies are old.”

 

Sam gasped and turned in shock towards Natasha, “Star Wars isn’t old!”

 

The spy rolled her eyes.

 

More reporters jostled for questions.

 

“Dr. Stark, will he continue your role as Iron Man as well as your role at Stark Industries?”

 

“We have yet to talk about it but the potential is there.”

 

“Dr. Stark, what does Ms. Potts think of your choice as heir?”

 

“She thinks he’s adorable.”

 

“Dr. Stark, how did you meet him?”

 

“A select amount of circumstances that I will not go into further detail at the moment.”

 

The questions continued along those lines for another half an hour or so until Tony was finally ushered off stage by the various PR managers who reiterated the request that the press not attempt to find the heir in question.

 

The Avengers sat in silence on the couch. After the questions stopped coming, Wanda stormed off, muttering about another Stark she had to watch out for, Steve looked in confusion at the TV, wondering why Tony hadn’t said anything about it, and Sam left to go browse on Tumblr to check in with the fan base to see if they had figured out who it was yet.

 

Natasha watched Steve for a few seconds, analyzing what she believed was going on in his head, before leaving to go to her room in the compound. Once inside she reviewed the various things that Stark had said in the past few interactions. 

 

She narrowed it down that whoever had been calling Stark during all of their meetings must be the heir in question. Suddenly understanding his hostility to being asked questions about the caller, Natasha brought out her computer to try and find out who it was. She had no intention of revealing the name, only to know who it was herself. 

 

She began to try and hack into Stark’s phone but only succeeded in connecting to hearing his phone conversations. Unknown to Natasha, a certain AI smirked at how smug the spy was after thinking she could hack into the boss’s phone. 

 

She began to listen to the conversation occuring.

 

“Mister Stark, I…”

 

“Tony.”

 

“Sorry, Mister Stark, thank you so much. I didn’t know how much you would say and I really don't want to be pestered by the press and I can’t believe that I’m your heir and hey what’d you mean by your comment about how I might take over for Iron Man because I feel like I’ve got my own thing going… not that I wouldn’t want to I just mean…”

 

“Breathe, kid. Let’s talk about this in person. I didn’t want you to be bothered by the press either. I’ll send Happy to pick you up.”

 

“He’s not going to be happy about that.”

 

“Not if you keep making those jokes. I’ll talk to you when you get to the tower.”

 

“Thanks Da-  Mister Stark.”

 

“... No problem, kid. I’ll see you soon, Peter.”

 

A click echoed across the line.

 

Natasha reared back in shock as the call disconnected and she was left staring at a blank screen with the message: “You’re welcome”- F.R.I.D.A.Y. scrolling across the screen.

 

The spy leaned back in her chair. Not only did the kid almost call Tony Dad, but she also had a name now.

 

Peter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> As always, comments and kudos keep me writing! :)


	4. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank Burt_Macklin_FBI_49, Acai786, and Ashgard for their prompts.  
> I also resolved something that TonyStarkIsMySpiritAnimal brought up in the comments.
> 
> I'd like to thank my wonderful beta RecklessDaydreamer for helping with my commas (they just appeared there I swear!) and making hilarious comments throughout the drafts of these chapters.

Natasha walked through the Avengers compound on her way to the conference room. Colonel Rhodes had called a meeting to go over new strategies. 

 

The spy heard footsteps approaching from behind her and she turned to see Tony walking down the hallway after her. 

 

The genius took his glasses off and waved her down. Standing in the empty hallway, he glanced around and began to speak.

 

“So FRIDAY let me know that a certain spy has been trying to be sneaky about my kid.”

 

“I wouldn’t have gotten through if you didn’t want me to.”

 

“No, you wouldn’t have.”

 

Natasha leveled her gaze at Tony. “Why did I get through then?”

 

He smiled back. “I’d rather keep you in a controlled environment than have you use all your resources who would leak things to the press.”

 

“I’m glad you trust me so much.”

 

His smile dropped. “The word trust is a hard thing for me to use around any of you. I trust you enough not to hurt my kid. That should be enough for you.”

 

The spy nodded and the two continued to walk in silence towards the conference room. Right as Tony was about to open the door, Natasha interrupted.

 

“Tony. Thank you. I won’t break your trust again.”

 

Tony stared at the spy whose gaze was resting on the door, her emotions uncharacteristically open. 

 

She glanced back at him and he nodded in acknowledgement.

 

He opened the door to the sound of silence.

 

Tony and Natasha walked into the room to the obvious aftermath of an argument. Rhodey was staring at Rogers with his arms crossed, the super soldier in the same position. Wanda was leaning back in her chair with the hand over her eyes in frustration. Sam was excitedly sitting in his chair, thinking about all of the theories he had read on Tumblr.

 

Natasha sighed.“Oh no, what happened now.”

 

Rogers spun around and fumed when he saw Tony. 

 

“Why didn’t you give us a notice that you have an heir? We’re your team, we should know about these things in advance.”

 

The genius raised an eyebrow and looked at Rhodey.

 

“Have you had to deal with this for a while now?”

 

The colonel snorted. “Thanks to your streak of showing up late to everything, yes.”

 

Rogers interrupted, “We don’t even know anything about this heir of yours. Where is he from? What’s his name?”

 

Tony sniffed, “I’ll have you know he’s from Queens, you don’t have to worry about someone who’s not from your precious New York.”

 

Rogers shot an irritated look at Tony, “excuse me? I…”

 

Natasha interrupted, “I don’t think this matters right now. Colonel Rhodes, you called us here for a strategy meeting?”

 

Rhodey’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Wow, this is actually a reverse of what happened the second time the kid called in your presence. Rogers wants to know everything and Natasha doesn’t. I’ll be suspicious of that later, but for now, I want to address the fact that we need to be better at working together.”

 

Rhodey continued to speak about how the two sides of the “civil war” tended to team up so that neither side really worked with each other. Right as he was talking about new possibilities of air support in conjunction with the Avengers working on the ground, FRIDAY interrupted.

 

“Boss, Spiderman is currently fighting the Green Goblin.”

 

Tony stood up and activated the screen in the conference room. 

 

“FRIDAY, pull up his vitals and view. Connect him to this room.”

 

A shaky video popped up on the screen and a ringing noise echoed throughout the room.

 

An excited voice answered.

 

“Oh hey Mr. Stark!”

 

“Hey kid. What’re you doing right now?”

 

“Uhh, nothing much.”

 

The Green Goblin picked up a car with an energy beam that he had created and threw the car at Spiderman who dodged and landed on the ground.

 

“That doesn't sound like nothing much.”

 

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

 

Giggling, the Green Goblin shot the energy beam at Spiderman, who jumped out of the way and looked back to see melting metal where he had just been standing.

 

“Whoa Mr. Goblin, I don’t think you set your phaser to stun, you might want to get that checked out.”

 

Tony sighed, “What have I told you about talking while fighting?”

 

“Don’t do it?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You do it all the time!”

 

“This is a do as I say not as I do situation.”

 

“Don’t do anything you wouldn’t and don’t do anything you would.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

The Green Goblin continued to giggle uncontrollably while shooting beams around and causing massive destruction.

 

“Hey kid, why don’t you web him up?”

 

“He made a forcefield around himself.”

 

“All right kid, you’re going to have to go to the mattresses while I make my way out there.”

 

Tony turned away from the screen and asked for FRIDAY to tell the accords committee that he was going in as Spiderman was heard protesting from the screen.

 

“No, no, Mr. Stark, I have this under control. Also, the Godfather, really?”

 

“The Godfather is one of the best movies of all time.”

 

“Yeah, sure, whatever you say.”

 

“Excuse me? I can at least enjoy quality films. What do you watch? High School Musical?”

 

“You gotta get’cha head in the game Mr. Stark. Also, didn’t you quote Mean Girls the other day?”

 

“... no.”

 

“Ha.”

 

“I’m still coming, you won’t distract me.”

 

Right at that moment, the Iron Man armor assembled around him and Tony flew out of the conference room towards the battle. The feed disconnected from the screen and the other Avengers were left sitting around the table in shock.

 

Rhodey stood up. “We should probably follow him.” 

 

They all nodded and made their way to the Quinjet, flying towards Queens. They landed on top of a building in the vicinity of the battle and made their way through an area that was moderately destroyed because of the Green Goblin's energy beam. 

 

In the distance they could see the police arresting the Green Goblin and Spiderman standing next to Tony whose helmet was off and was gesturing wildly at the neighborhood hero.

 

They could just hear Tony from where they were walking from.

 

“No! You don’t get to risk your life like that. I told you I was coming, I can’t have you be hurt!”

 

“I couldn’t let him hurt that cat!”

 

“Really? You’re worried about the cat and not the property damage?”

 

“Yes! I…”

 

Rogers interrupted their argument.

 

“It’s always nice to meet someone who actually cares about the living things.”

 

Spiderman turned angrily towards Rogers.

 

“What did you just say about Mr. Stark? I’ll have you know ahhhhhh.”

 

Peter’s scream echoed into the distance as he flew off inside the Iron Man suit that Tony had deployed around him.

 

Tony stood with his arms crossed in his Armani suit and glared at Steve. 

 

The Avengers stood there in silence until Sam chimed in, “Uhhh, what was that?”

 

Tony continued to glare at Steve.

 

Sam continued to speak, “Because that was kind of weird. I was looking forward to the verbal battle but now this is just suspect.”

 

Wanda sniffed and walked away, muttering about Stark.

 

Steve crossed his arms and stared back at Tony.

 

Natasha glanced between the two while Sam continued to fill the silence.

 

Rhodey finally chimed in on the coms. 

 

“All right, people, head to the Quinjet, we need to have a debrief.”

 

A new Iron Man suit landed next to Tony and he stepped into it, flying off to the compound. 

 

The other Avengers got back onto the Quinjet. 

 

Steve thought out loud while talking to Natasha and Sam.

 

“Tony said his heir is from Queens, right? I think I know a certain someone who’s also from Queens.”

 

Sam gasped, “You think that Spiderman is his heir? One of my… sources had that theory as well.”

 

Natasha stared at Sam, “Your sources? Where are you getting information from? KGB? Interpol?”

 

Sam paused for a moment and then said very quietly, “... Tumblr.”

 

Natasha sighed, “You’d be surprised at the amount of things they get right.”

 

Sam whip his head around to face her, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

“No, please tell me.”

 

“Nothing.”

 

Steve ignored the banter going on between the two and instead stared at the wall in front of him, the thought of Queens running through his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos keep me writing!


	5. 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank Big.Miss.take. for their prompt. I... changed it up a bit but the intent is there.
> 
> RecklessDaydreamer! Thank you so much for being the best beta! Everyone should go read her writing, it's amazing.

A figure wearing a blue baseball cap walked through the streets of Queens.

 

The tall blond man kept his head down and flickered his eyes back and forth. The sun shined down on the streets and cars rushed past.

 

A conversation caught the attention of the man. Stopping at a newspaper stand, he pretended to read the headlines while listening to the conversation.

 

“According to the Spiderman watch list, he should be swinging through here sometime tonight.”

 

“Why do you want to see him?”

 

“Are you kidding me? He’s so cool! I just want to be able to see a real live superhero with my own eyes.”

 

“You’re such a nerd.”

 

“Hey now, didn’t you…”

 

The conversation faded away and the blond man glanced around. 

 

The older guy with glasses and a mustache running the newspaper stand, who looked a tad bit familiar to Steve, interrupted his thoughts.

 

“Hey. Are you gonna buy a paper or what?”

 

Steve made a noncommittal noise and casually walked away. 

 

Once he was out of range of the newspaper stand, the older man turned to his next customer and remarked about the interaction.

 

“Superheroes these days, they all think we don’t know who they are.”

 

Steve, ignorant of the remark, walked over to a coffee place that had outdoor seating. He ordered a drink and sat down, waiting to see if Spiderman would swing past.

 

The chair next to him pulled out with a loud grating noise and a curly haired teenager sat down across from him and began to sketch in her notebook. 

 

Steve stared at her. 

 

She continued to draw.

 

Steve continued to stare.

 

He cleared his throat. “What… what are you doing?”

 

She looked up and smiled scarily at him. 

 

“I like drawing people who are trying to be sneaky. I used to draw people in distress but you just presented the perfect opportunity.”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

She glanced upwards and made direct eye contact. “Don’t you?”

 

Steve frowned and looked away, flicking his eyes periodically over to where she sat.

 

She continued to sketch until finally she laughed and turned the paper to face him. 

 

“Look, it’s you.”

 

A drawing of Steve in his full Avengers uniform and shield appeared on her paper and she grinned at the shock that plastered across his face. 

 

“Wait, how did you…”

 

Before he could finish his sentence, a shadow passed over the table. 

 

Both parties at the table looked up to see Spiderman swinging by.

 

As he went past, he waved. “Hey MJ!”

 

“Hey, Spiderman.”

 

Steve stood up to follow the vigilante but was distracted by MJ clearing her throat.

 

“Where are you going in such a rush, Steve?”

 

The supersoldier paused.

 

“Uhhhhh.”

 

Before he could come up with a response, Spiderman disappeared around the corner of the street and was lost from view.

 

A buzzing was heard and MJ took out her phone and glanced at a text. 

 

She stood up to leave. “You do what you want, I don’t care anymore.”

 

Steve looked at her phone, a brand new Stark phone, and commented on it. “I didn’t think those were on the market yet.”

 

She looked down at the phone and responded to Steve, completely deadpan. 

 

“Oh. I have a friend. His dad gave me a mission to stop someone from doing something they’d regret. This was my payment.”

 

She smiled at Steve and turned to leave.

 

“Have a nice day, Steve Rogers.”

 

* * *

 

Natasha walked through the corridors of the Avengers compound. As she approached the wing where most of the housing rooms were located, she stopped at the only ajar door with the name plate Steve Rogers attached to it. 

 

Knocking on the open door to get his attention, she walked through to the sight of Steve on the computer watching videos of Spiderman on the screen. 

 

Natasha crossed her arms and Steve spun around on the chair.

 

“Hey Natasha, uhh, how are you today?”

 

The spy raised an eyebrow and gestured to his computer.

 

Steve turned to look at it and then turned back towards the spy with an embarrassed smile on his face.

 

She sighed and began to speak.

 

“What are you doing, Steve?”

 

“I’m just doing some research.”

 

“It seems to me like you’re doing something that one of our teammates doesn’t want you to be doing.”

 

Steve looked at Natasha with a confused expression on his face.

 

“Are you… are you on his side now?”

 

The spy sighed again.

 

“I hate this, Steve. I hate that we’ve been torn into two sides. We used to be a family! Why must you AND Tony keep doing this?!”

 

“I can’t trust Tony if he keeps secrets from us!”

 

“He can’t trust you if you can’t trust him to protect someone he cares about! The word trust is thrown around so much! Why do you have to know everything he does? You certainly didn’t tell him about things he should have known.”

 

“I had to protect Bucky.”

 

Natasha stared down the supersoldier, who was now standing up and gesturing around. Her expression was completely blank and Steve calmed down in confusion after the silence reigned for what felt like a minute.

 

The spy began to speak. “Steve. You are such a big hypocrite. You kept secrets about the death of a teammate’s parents and you’re criticizing him for protecting his son? At least we know he has one. You never told him anything.”

 

“You knew about it too!”

 

“You told me that you would tell him! I thought you would keep your word.”

 

“You keep talking about trust but you chose my side instead of Stark’s!”

 

“Oh, Steve. I was on Stark's side. I agreed with the accords. I only switched to yours because I was scared that the Avengers would separate. I regret that decision. We separated anyways and now I have to try and make it up to someone who once regarded me as family. So you just sit here and think about that.”

 

Steve stared at Natasha in shock and lowered his head. The spy turned around and began to walk out of the door. She paused at the entryway and looked back at the supersoldier.

 

“You both want to protect the people you love and care about. Trust will come once you allow him to do that without prying.”

 

The spy left the room and closed the door on her way out. 

 

Steve sat in his chair and stared at the floor.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all know what comes after this chapter. :)
> 
> Thanks again to RecklessDaydreamer!
> 
> Comments and kudos keep me writing. :)


	6. +1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it. 
> 
> The last chapter.
> 
> I can't believe I'm saying this... but this chapter is +3,000 words. You are all welcome.

Steve, Sam, Wanda, and Natasha all sat in a car that was slowly making its way through New York City traffic. 

 

Wanda sighed and turned to Steve. 

 

“Why are we doing this again?”

 

Steve returned the sigh. “We’re doing this because we need to apologize to Tony for how we’ve acted. It’s the only way to hopefully start functioning as a team again.”

 

Wanda sighed. Steve turned to Sam. “Do you have any objections to add?”

 

Sam shrugged. “Nah man, I already talked to Tony. I’m not quite sure what took you so long to do the same but we worked it out.”

 

Steve stared at him. “Why are you here then?”

 

Sam smiled. “There will no doubt be drama with this interaction and I am 100% here for that.”

 

Natasha chuckled and the other three turned to look at her. 

 

Steve narrowed his eyes. “Anything you’d like to add?”

 

The spy shook her head and declined to speak further on the topic. Instead, she proceeded to swear in Russian at the other motorists.

 

Steve sighed once again, the action starting to become his signature state. Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes and muttered, “You guys are all no help.” 

 

The others ignored him. 

 

Eventually their car pulled up to the parking ramp entrance that SI and those affiliated with Stark were able to use. 

 

Natasha rolled down the window and began to speak to the interface that controlled the parking ramp. It was FRIDAY, of course. 

 

The others couldn’t hear the conversation, but they all looked up in confusion as the door to the ramp never opened and Natasha rolled up the window in anger and screeched backwards in the car. 

 

Steve raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”

 

Natasha continued to mumble in Russian. 

 

Wanda made a humming noise. “It appears as if we are not authorized to access Stark’s building. How accurate to his character.”

 

Sam interjected, “You do know that it’s probably FRIDAY being salty and Stark has no idea right?”

 

Wanda proceed to mumble under her breath. 

 

Silence reigned in the car until Natasha finally whipped the vehicle into a parallel parking spot. They all climbed out and the spy aggressively locked the car, which responded with a happy beeping noise.

 

They made their way to the Stark tower, pushing through the heavy foot traffic on all of the sidewalks. As they walked, the usual excited fans were missing and the looks were replaced with ones of trepidation. 

 

Well, mostly. 

 

A group of teenagers stopped and asked Sam for an autograph and few selfies, saying that they followed his social media accounts and loved his commentary on the whole situation.

 

He stopped to talk with them, gesturing for the others to go ahead without him. 

 

The three continued to walk towards the tower. It loomed above them. As they approached the tower, the automatic doors opened for them. Natasha and Wanda walked through them but as Steve entered, the doors closed around him and he jolted forward with a shriek. 

 

Natasha snorted as Steve casually brushed himself off, trying to look as if what had just happened hadn’t. 

 

They kept walking towards the elevator that would take them up to the private levels, but a security guard jumped in front of him and crossed his arms.

 

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but it appears as if you haven’t signed in at the front desk. Please do so before you continue on your current course.”

 

Steve stepped forward to confront the guard about the fact that they had never had to do that before, but Natasha grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the desk. 

 

As they walked that way, Wanda trailing behind them, Natasha growled quietly into Steve’s ear. 

 

“You are here to apologize, not to start a fight. Get your act together, Rogers.”

 

He sighed and put on a pleasant smile as they approached the main desk. The receptionist looked up from his computer and his traditional smile that was reserved for guests to the building faded when he saw Steve Rogers in front of him. 

 

“Oh, it’s you. I’m afraid you’re not on the guest list, so you will be unable to access the private levels.”

 

Natasha chimed in, “Would it be possible to ask FRIDAY whether Mr. Stark is available at the current moment?”

 

“It’s Dr. Stark.”

 

“What?”

 

“It’s Dr. Stark. You said Mr. Stark, and I felt like correcting you.”

 

Steve frowned and confronted the receptionist. “Why are you being so hostile to us? Did Stark put you up to this?”

 

The receptionist raised an eyebrow. “Dr. Stark put me up to nothing. As to your question of why I am being hostile, well, that has many answers. The first being what you did to Dr. Stark, the second being that my boyfriend works for the United Nations and has regaled me with tales of your demeaning actions at his workplace.”

 

Natasha stopped Steve before he could respond and looked at the receptionist with a dazzling smile. “We apologize for our actions and will try to manage them in the future. Could you ask FRIDAY whether Dr. Stark is available at this time?”

 

The receptionist gaze her a deadpan look. “What is the matter you wish to discuss with Dr. Stark?”

 

Natasha nudged Steve, who responded, “We… wish to apologize to… Dr. Stark.”

 

The receptionist smirked and looked at his computer where a message from FRIDAY had just appeared. “It appears that Dr. Stark may have a small slot in his schedule at the moment. If you would proceed to the elevator on your right, you will be brought to the conference room on the private level.”

 

They nodded and made their way over to the elevator. The doors closed and the elevator began to, very slowly, inch its way upwards. 

 

Steve sighed. “A conference room? I bet that Stark will be in his lab and completely ignore us the entire time.”

 

Wanda snorted in agreement. “We might as well go directly to his lab.”

 

Steve nodded. “It’s a plan then. Wanda, can you bring the elevator to the level where his lab is and then open the doors?”

 

Wanda grinned at Steve and her red magic leaked into the space. 

 

Shooting upwards, the elevator came to a stop at the level where Stark's lab was located and the doors jolted open, revealing the white corridor that led to the lab’s entrance.

 

Steve and Wanda got out of the elevator. Turning around, they saw that Natasha was still standing in the elevator with her arms crossed. 

 

Steve frowned. “Are you coming with?”

 

The spy narrowed her eyes. “We’re here to apologize Steve. I am not going along with this plan.”

 

Wanda shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

 

The doors closed and the magic dissipated from the space. Natasha sighed and directed her gaze at the camera that rested in the corner of the space that the other two hadn’t noticed.

 

“FRIDAY, is Tony even in his lab?”

 

There was a pause. “Boss is not in his lab but… someone else is.”

 

Natasha's eyebrows rose. “Where is Tony, then?”

 

“In the kitchen.”

 

“The kitchen?”

 

“He’s making pasta.”

 

Natasha gave a shocked look at the camera, so very confused at the things that she was being told. Not only was Tony in the kitchen, making pasta, but  _ someone else  _ was in the lab. 

 

“Tony’s cooking? Nevermind. Can you warn him about what’s about to happen in the lab?”

 

“Boss put me on mute. Unfortunately, it extends to both the kitchen and the lab, so I can warn neither party.”

 

“All right. Can you take me to the kitchen so I can warn Tony, then?”

 

“Right away, Ms. Romanoff.”

 

The elevator shot upwards at a very fast pace. Opening into a view of the living room, Natasha stepped out and made her way to the kitchen where loud Italian music was playing. 

 

Tony was standing at the stove with a spatula in hand, dumping a collection of ingredients into a mix that he was creating for the sauce. 

 

Natasha cleared her throat and he whirled around, spatula ready to defend himself, wearing an apron that had a picture of the periodic table symbol for iron and the word man underneath it.

 

Natasha raised an eyebrow as Tony relaxed out of his defensive position and casually rested his hand on the island. 

 

“Natasha, what’re you doing here?”

 

“Well. I came with the other Avengers to try and get them to apologize to you. Unfortunately, they were under the assumption that you would be in the lab and therefore they are currently forcing their way into it.”

 

Tony’s eyes widened and he whipped the apron off. Handing the spatula to Natasha he looked her in the eyes. 

 

“Watch the pasta.”

 

With the statement he ran off to the elevator, the Iron Man gauntlet forming from his watch.

 

Natasha sighed and looked down at the spatula. 

 

The elevator closed with the view of the Russian spy slowly turning the pasta so it didn’t boil over and giving the finger to the retreating figure on the way to help his son.

 

* * *

 

 

Steve and Wanda crept down the hallway towards the reinforced doors that covered the entrance to the lab. They could hear music blaring through the doors and Wanda frowned.

 

“Is Stark listening to Hamilton and not hard rock?”

 

Steve shrugged and walked up to the door. When he grabbed the handle and tried to push the door open, it stayed locked. 

 

Wanda sighed and her magic crept towards the door, forcing it open slowly. 

 

The music came shooting out full blast into the corridor and they heard a piece of metal drop onto the ground. A voice made an exclamation and more banging was heard coming from the lab.

 

Steve and Wanda walked in to the sight of Stark’s lab spread out in front of them.

 

Walking forward, they could see a pair of legs jutting out from under one of the cars. Steve smirked, realizing that Tony must have dropped something and had to fish it out. Serves him right for having his cars in a lab. 

 

The table next to the car was littered with dismantled tech and a backpack was sitting nearby. Steve frowned. Why would Stark have a backpack in the lab?

 

The music stopped playing as they walked forward and the figure under the car tensed, somehow realized they were there.

 

Steve crossed his arms and waited for Tony to climb out from underneath the car.

 

Wanda was not so patient. She wrapped her red magic around the leg of the person under the car and yanked them out. 

 

A startled scream split the air, and instead of Stark, out came a gangly teenager with a surprised and scared expression. 

 

In her surprise, Wanda dropped the magic around his leg and put her hand over her mouth. The teenager flailed his arm towards the desk where Steve noticed one of Spider Man's web shooters was sitting.

 

The teen’s hand wrapped around a piece of tech and it formed around his hand, shooting a beam of energy towards the two Avengers. 

 

Steve and Wanda dropped to the ground to avoid the beam coming from the Iron Man gauntlet that the kid had grabbed. 

 

The kid backed up and hit the table behind him. He continued to point the gauntlet at the two and breathed heavily as his other hand searched for something behind him.

 

Steve stood up with his hands raised. “Okay, kid. I don’t know how you’re able to use that piece of tech. I don’t think you understand its capabilities. If you could set it down, we can talk this out.”

 

Wanda snorted, “I think it’s quite obvious how he’s able to use that. You must be Stark’s kid.”

 

The teenager continued to point the gauntlet at them and Wanda formed her magic in her hands, ready to take the gauntlet off by force.

 

Before she could do so, the kid found what he had been searching for and suddenly both Avengers were stuck to the wall, Wanda’s hands immobile and Steve’s legs wrapped together. They looked down and saw that the substances they were covered in seemed to be some kind of webbing. 

 

The kid put down his hand, the gauntlet still attached and crossed his arms while peering at the two startled Avengers. 

 

The kid opened his mouth to speak but before he could, Tony burst through the doors to the lab, frantically looking around and an Iron Man gauntlet around his hand as well.

 

He skidded over to his kid and stopped when he saw Steve and Wanda stuck to the wall. 

 

He looked over at Peter and smiled when he saw the gauntlet around the kids arm.

 

Peter spoke up. “Oh hey, we match!”

 

Tony chuckled. “Sure do, kid.”

 

Tony’s smile dropped as he turned to look at the Avengers stuck to the wall. “You come to my tower, you break into my lab, and you attack my kid. Natasha told me that you came here to apologize, I don’t see how this classifies as such.”

 

Peter interjected, “Actually, I think they thought I was you. So technically they didn’t purposefully attack me… they would have purposefully attacked you, though, which, come on, guys, really? Er, I mean, come on, people. Sorry, MJ keeps giving me lectures on accidently gendering groups of people. It’s started to stick. Hah, pun, because spiders. Anyways. Hi! I’m Peter!”

 

Peter waved and Tony rolled his eyes while Steve and Wanda stared at him in shock. 

 

Wanda’s eye twitched. “It’s another Stark.” 

 

Tony smiled. “Oh yes he is.”

 

Peter opened his mouth to continue speaking, but Tony cut him off.

 

“How about you head up to the kitchen? The pasta’s almost ready and I know how much you want to meet Natasha.”

 

Peter gasped. “Black Widow is upstairs! Daaad, oh my gosh. I’m gonna go there now. Bye Steve, bye Wanda!”

 

Peter ran out of the door and the other two stared at Tony in shock.

 

Steve cleared his throat. “Well, he certainly is a lot like you.”

 

Tony continued to stare at the two who were still webbed to the wall. 

 

Steve continued to speak. “So… Tony. We’re here to talk to you and… apologize for our actions.” 

 

Tony raised an eyebrow. “I thought we already talked about this.” 

 

“Yes, but nothing’s improved since we talked.”

 

“Steve, it’s not going to solve itself right away. So far you haven’t shown me any reason for why I can trust you.”

 

“I've told you…”

 

“Yes, you’ve told me. That’s the thing, your actions don’t align with your words.”

 

“...”

 

“I understand that you’re used to everything getting solved right away, but that is not what’s going to happen here. We can work together, fine, but it’s not going to become all cuddles and rainbows. You almost killed me, Steve. I don’t understand how you think I can just forget that. I understand that you want to apologize and that makes me feel a little better. However, you have to correspond your actions with your words, and that hasn’t seemed to happen yet.”

 

“...”

 

“All right. This talk is done. I’m going to go eat dinner with my kid and maybe Natasha or Sam if he shows up. They’ve apologized with actions.”

 

“...”

 

“What?”

 

“Could you get us out of these… webs?”

 

“They’ll wear off in about an hour or so. FRIDAY will escort you off of the premises when they do.”

 

Tony uncrossed his arms and walked out of the door, leaving Steve and Wanda trapped together. Wanda sighed and rested her head against the wall. 

 

“Now we have to deal with two Starks.”

 

* * *

 

Natasha looked up from the pasta when she heard an excited gasp in the vicinity. 

 

Looking up, she saw a teenager with tousled brown hair and a t-shirt that said “I have potential” with a picture of a ball on the top of a slope. 

 

He bounced up and down on his toes. “Hi! Oh my gosh Black Widow! I’m so excited to meet you! My name’s Peter! You’re so cool. I mean, aside from the whole Accords incident, but aside from that, wow!”

 

Natasha smiled. “You can call me Natasha. You must be Stark's kid.”

 

Peter smiled back at her. “You just told me to call you Natasha, this is incredible, I’m so excited right now. You’re so badas… cool, I mean cool. Uh yeah, Da… Tony liked to call me his kid. Uhhhhh.”

 

Natasha raised an eyebrow, but before she could respond, Sam turned the corner and stopped at the view that he saw: Black Widow aggressively turning a pot of pasta with an excited teenager bouncing nearby.

 

The teenager turned his gaze to Sam and he started to freak out again. “Hi! Falcon! This is so coooool. I’m Peter! I just have to say, I follow you on Tumblr, yes, everyone knows your account, you weren't that sneaky, and I love your commentary so much, it’s hilarious.”

 

Sam smiled. “You must be Stark’s kid.”

 

Peter sighed. “I didn’t think it was that obvious. I mean, come on, he’s…”

 

Natasha and Sam both tuned out Peter’s rant and shared a look with each other, aghast at Peter’s denial that he seemed similar to Tony. 

 

“And he’s all like pew pew with all his tech and stuff and I just kinda swing around and I’m all like…”

 

Tony interrupted the rant while entering the kitchen. “Did you just refer to the Iron Man suit as making a pew pew noise?”

 

Peter gulped. “Absolutely not, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

Natasha chuckled at Peter’s response but quickly turned and threw the spatula at Tony who fumbled to catch it. 

 

The spy glared at him. “Watch your own pasta.”

 

“I didn’t want it to boil over while I was gone.”

 

Sam chimed in, “Speaking of gone, where’s Steve and Wanda?”

 

Peter’s mouth spasmed. “I think they’re… hanging out.”

 

Tony smiled. “They seem to be in a sticky situation.”

 

Natasha groaned as Sam laughed.

 

Tony winked at Peter and took the pasta off of the stove, mixing it with the sauce that he had put together. 

 

Peter looked at Natasha and Sam. “Do you two want to stay for dinner?”

 

Natasha looked at Sam and nodded.

 

“Sure, why not. Two Starks should make for some good entertainment.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, soooooo many thanks to RecklessDaydreamer for beta-ing this fic and letting me rant about plot points. Couldn't have done it without you!
> 
> Friends! It is done! I never realized how much work a 5+1 was and I wouldn't have made it without the incredible and amazing response I've received.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who had left kudos or a comment, you've really made my days special!
> 
> Let me know what you thought!
> 
> As usual, comments and kudos keep me writing. :)


	7. A Continuation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! 
> 
> For those of you who haven't noticed, I'm making this into a series titled The Word I'm Looking For.
> 
> Here's a sneak peak.

A camera focused on a school in the middle of Queens.

Scanning the crowd, it landed on the mess of exiting students. 

A teenager with messy brown hair and a wide smile on his face began to rush down the stairs.

He entered a well known car.

The car was registered with Stark Industries and was a favorite of the head of security.

The camera clicked.

The woman holding the camera grinned.

She had what she needed.

To be continued...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next part of the series has begun with the sequel: Just to get a Glimpse Beyond the Illusion
> 
> Hope you check it out!
> 
> :)


End file.
